


Abschluss: closure, fastening, seal; end, close, conclusion, termination.

by Elke Tanzer (elke_tanzer)



Series: Abschluss und Weiterreise [1]
Category: Inuyasha - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Future, Angst, Epilogue, F/M, you don't have to know the canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-07-15
Updated: 2003-07-14
Packaged: 2017-10-02 22:22:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elke_tanzer/pseuds/Elke%20Tanzer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Choices and vengeance at one possible end of the quest for the Shikon Jewel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I dedicate this humble effort to Second Element Video, whose Two-Way Dream has captivated me during the past few weeks, and to Krista Perry, whose writing showed me nearly a decade ago how marvelous anime fanfiction can be. I've never forgotten; I just left for a while.
> 
> Thanks to Moonlight Spike, who kept me going on this when I really needed a cheerleader. I wrote this after seeing the first twenty or so episodes, and reading thirteen volumes of the manga. It's a futurefic based only on that, although I know there is a lot more canon out there which I haven't seen or read yet... so you should probably consider this an alternate future, though I've tried to keep the characters as close as possible to the canon I'm familiar with.
> 
> The definitions provided with the titles are from Cassell's German Dictionary, ninth printing.
> 
> After I finished writing this, I started looking for screen captures to manipulate into illustrations, and it was very startled to find some that looked a little too close to the plot of this, in screencap collections of later anime episodes and movies which I have not seen nor read about. Very strange.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For those not familiar with the fandom, summarizing the first few episodes' pertinent canon.

Feudal Japan is filled with warlords and demons, a chaotic place far more dangerous than our own time. The priestess Kikyo, possessing strong spiritual powers, has as her duty the protection of the sacred Shikon Jewel, a mystic artifact which in the wrong hands can be the source of incredible evil power. The half-demon Inu Yasha wants the Jewel, as its power could make him a full-fledged demon. His father was a mighty dog-demon, lord of the Western lands, but his mother was a beautiful human woman. He does not wish to kill humans, Kikyo especially, but only seeks to steal the Jewel. Kikyo, weary of her unending battles to kill the demons seeking the Jewel for themselves, and longing for a normal life, sympathizes with the half-breed and does not kill him when he attempts to steal the Jewel. After many unsuccessful attempts to steal the Jewel, he asks her why she will not kill him, and they eventually simply sit and talk. They find common ground in their experiences as outsiders to human society, and she tells him that he could use the Jewel to become human, which would purify the Jewel and likely cause it to cease to exist. He promises her that he is willing to become human, to be with her, to live with her... and they arrange a secret meeting to which Kikyo will bring the Jewel.

It is at this point that things go horribly wrong. At the end of that terrible day, Inu Yasha is in an ensorcelled slumber, pinned to an ancient tree in the forest outside Kikyo's village by her enchanted arrow through his chest. Unbeknownst to the half-demon, Kikyo lies dead of her wounds, and has instructed her younger sister Kaede to burn the Shikon Jewel with her body so that she may take it with her into the other world, the afterlife, where it cannot fall into the wrong hands and be used for evil.

Fifty years later, Kaede is a priestess in her own right and, still pinned to the ancient tree in the forest now named for him, Inu Yasha slumbers on.

In modern-day Tokyo, the fifteen-year-old Kagome has grown up at her family's shrine, beneath the shade of that same tree. Most places within the shrine have their own stories to tell, including the so-called Bone Eaters Well. It is that well which provides the portal from modern Tokyo to feudal times, and Kagome is drawn into the well and back in time by a centipede-demon seeking the Shikon Jewel. The demon sensed what Kagome herself does not know... that the Shikon Jewel is within her body.

During her struggle with the centipede demon, her discovery of Inu Yasha in the forest, and her introduction to Kaede's village, it becomes clear that Kagome is Kikyo reborn, the reincarnation of the mighty priestess, though she does not know her own powers and is completely untrained. In a violent struggle with the centipede, Kagome is injured and the Jewel is freed from her body. Kagome's cry for help wakes Inu Yasha, and in the heat of battle she decides to try to break the arrow's spell which traps him. He is freed, and kills the centipede demon, but then demands the Jewel for himself. Kaede places a special necklace of prayer beads around his neck, giving Kagome the power of subjugation over him... whenever she says the word "Sit!" he immediately crashes to the ground, usually face-first. He decides to stay only because he is waiting for Kagome and Kaede to lower their guard so that he may steal the Jewel, but the first few times a demon attacks trying to get the Jewel, he ends up teaming up with Kagome to vanquish them. She has the spiritual sight to sense the Jewel and the fortitude to stand up against demons, and he has the strength to battle the demons and win. There's only one problem... during their first confrontation with a carrion crow demon, the Jewel is stolen, and in attempting to slay the demon with an arrow, the inexperienced Kagome accidentally hits the Jewel itself, fracturing it into an unknown number of fragments, each of which can hold terrible power if used for evil. The shards are spread far and wide, and each one of them is a disaster in wait for the human population.

The combination of Kaede's advice and a few attacks by demons, including one demon making its presence known through the well into Kagome's own time after she attempted to go home and forget everything she experienced in the past, convinces Kagome and Inu Yasha to work together to recover the shards of the Shikon Jewel. It is a strange partnership, with Inu Yasha maintaining that he only wants the Jewel for himself, and Kagome learning to survive and use her spiritual gifts in a strange time. Inu Yasha is also obviously uncomfortable with the fact that Kagome looks much like the priestess Kikyo, and sometimes struggles with the idea that she could be the reincarnation of the woman whose ensorcelled arrow struck him so brutally so many years before. In spite of that, they become a more or less workable team, gradually collecting the tiny Jewel shards in a small vial which Kagome carries. They make friends with Shippo, a young orphaned fox-demon, who joins them on their journey, hoping to avenge his own father's death by teaming up with Inu Yasha to fight his father's killers.

The demon Urasue appears, and steals Kikyo's remains and some graveside soil from the shrine in Kaede's village. She hopes to resurrect Kikyo, and manages to raise her body, but without her soul. Kaede, Shippo, Kagome and Inu Yasha attempt to recover the remains, but Urasue captures Kagome and causes her soul to flow out and into Kikyo's resurrected form. Kikyo, unwilling to be Urasue's puppet, kills her, and confronts Inu Yasha, demanding to know why he betrayed her. She accuses him of a brutal and ultimately murderous attack while she was on her way to meet him to give him the Jewel, though he had promised to be with her as a human. He is shocked, for his own memory tells him that she is the one who betrayed him, attacking him that day and attempting to kill him. After that confrontation all those years ago, when he dodged her arrows, he broke into the temple to steal the Shikon Jewel, hoping to then leave her village forever, but was pinned to the tree instead by her arrow. He maintains that he meant every word of his promises to her!

She does not believe him, believing instead that he is still trying to trick her, and attacks him. Kagome's still form calls her soul back to herself, and most of her soul does return, leaving Kikyo a mere shadow of her former self, a hollow husk motivated only by the hatred infused in her dying breath, the vengeance she seeks to visit upon Inu Yasha for his betrayal. Kikyo stumbles away, falling into a deep chasm, to become a near-demon herself, requiring the souls of others to continue her quest for revenge. Inu Yasha is left grieving, believing that she is likely dead, and wondering how their devotion to each other could have gone so wrong, but continues his quest for the Jewel shards with Kagome and Shippo.

During the course of their journeys, they make some friends and allies, including the monk Miroku and the demon-exterminator Sango, but also some enemies, including Inu Yasha's half-brother Sesshomaru, a full-blooded demon who contests Inu Yasha's right to a magical sword made from their father's fang, the Tetsusaiga. It turns out that the Tetsusaiga only transforms into a mighty blade when it is wielded by someone with demon blood who is also defending a human, which makes it uniquely suited to Inu Yasha and Kagome's quest. Over time, Kagome gradually becomes more proficient with the bow. They also learn that the mysterious shapechanging demon Naraku almost stole the Shikon Jewel fifty years before, and is thus implicated in the misunderstandings and betrayal between Inu Yasha and Kikyo's spirit...


	2. Setting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Putting this story in context.

This story begins some years after all of that, however, jumping ahead to the time which Inu Yasha and Kagome had both hoped for and doubted would come. They have had many adventures which are assumed and alluded to, including violent confrontations with Naraku and other powerful demons, but they have not yet resolved Kikyo's search for vengeance; she wanders the land, motivated only by the bitterness which has taken root in the bones and graveside soil which now make up her body, unable to find rest or peace.

During Inu Yasha and Kagome's quest for the Shikon Jewel shards, they have faced terrible foes together, and have come to assume two things: that their quest will take far longer than they ever expected, and that each confrontation with a demon to reclaim a piece of the Jewel will be increasingly difficult, because the more powerful demons have had time to defeat their weaker counterparts for fragments of the Jewel.


	3. Sammlung - gathering, collecting; collection.

"Well, _that's_ a truly disgusting smell."

Nodding, Inu Yasha watched as Kagome regained her feet; one of the blasts from the demon's death throes had knocked her flat, and tendrils of dark smoke still writhed angrily from the ground around them. "Yeah. But I got the shard."

Grass and brush had been burned away to scorched earth in a fairly large circle around them, but Kagome had learned long ago that there were benefits to wielding her bow from near a boulder. Its shelter had saved her during the worst moments of their confrontation with the overgrown demon.

"I saw. Now, where did my bag go to? Ah." She picked her way halfway around the back of the boulder and retrieved the worn backpack. Unbuckling the top flap, she reached in to retrieve the small vial that held the collected work of their quest. Shiny fragments of the Shikon Jewel tinkled against the glass as she held it up. "I wonder how many more pieces there are?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. I keep thinking we've found lots of it, but every time you let some demon eat 'em all and the pieces join together, we've got less than I think we have."

"Hey! The last time it was your fault, not mine!"

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was not!"

Kagome smiled. "Some things never change."

The stubborn set of Inu Yasha's mouth shifted into a small smile. "No, I guess not. Here." He walked toward her, holding out the recently acquired fragment, obviously intending to give it to her to put with the rest.

"But some things do. How long has it been since I had to pester you to hand over fragments that we'd gathered, hmm?"

The half-demon shrugged. "Dunno. Guess it's been a while. It does make things easier when they're all in one place, and since you're as stubborn as a mule and you didn't want me to carry 'em..." He dropped the shard into her palm and she glanced at it before reaching for the vial's stopper.

They both paused as they noticed a weak flash of light from the vial. "Inu Yasha, did you see that?"

He frowned, reaching to take the shard back. "Yeah. Wait... now open the vial."

Kagome nodded and unstoppered the small bottle. As soon as the cork was clear, the Jewel pieces within began giving off shiny bursts of brightly colored light. She narrowed her eyes against the growing brightness, squinting to get a better view.

Inu Yasha's eyes narrowed, concentrating on the vial. "Wha..." He stopped suddenly as the shard on his palm began to glow, then took a step back. The light faded. "Hey, it's never done that before."

Kagome looked up, startled. The fragments in her vial had sent a kaleidoscope of color refracting through the glass. She lifted it for a better look. "Weird. Try it again."

Inu Yasha stepped slowly forward, holding the shard between his clawed fingertips carefully. The first flash of light was barely noticeable, but as he got closer, the flashes from both the shard and Kagome's vial intensified. He closed his fist around the shard, and the light from the vial dimmed. "Maybe I should carry this one."

Kagome nervously stoppered the vial, then looked up at him. "All right. I have a drawstring bag that could hold it safe." She sifted through her pack again, and reached out to hand the small bag to him.

He wrapped the shard carefully so that multiple layers of the fabric would have to be cut against its sharp edges before it could come free, and tied the drawstrings snugly. He hung the bag around his neck and tucked it under his clothing.

Kagome had been silent, her forehead wrinkled in thought. She lifted her vial again, carefully considered the shards within, and looked back to Inu Yasha. "You don't suppose..."

"Nah." Inu Yasha shook his head. "There's prob'ly just something strange about this fragment."

"Right." Kagome nodded hesitantly.

"Yeah."

"Even though that flash felt really, really weird."

They both paused, then Inu Yasha spoke. "If this were the last piece..."

"Would we know? I mean, without actually fusing it back together somehow?"

Their gazes locked.

"I don't know..."

"Neither do I."

"I mean, I expected that the last pieces would be held by really powerful demons, and most of them we've found lately have been like that..."

"But this guy wasn't so tough, really..."

They looked at one another in silence for a moment, then both spoke at once.

"Kaede would..."

"Let's go back to..."

Neither finished voicing their thoughts; instead, they gathered up their things and left. Only the blackened circle behind them marked their battle, and the last wisps of smoke coiled upward as the putrid scent of the demon's end dispersed on the afternoon breeze.


	4. Wahl - choice, selection; option, alternative.

A light wind softly ruffled the leaves of the god-tree overhead as Inu Yasha and Kagome sat talking in the forest clearing. On Kaede's advice, they had left the village to deal with the possible reconstruction of the complete Shikon Jewel. No one was sure what would happen if they had in fact found the last pieces and tried to rejoin them, and the weary villagers had only recently finished their latest demon-rampage repairs. So the two of them had left the others back in the village, preferring to try to finish what only they two had started when the Jewel was broken.

Kagome held the small vial of shards open in her palm, and Inu Yasha brought closer the small cloth bundle holding his piece. As soon as the wrapping was loosened, all of the fragments began to glow with an eerie, multicolored light.

"I can hardly believe it, but I agree with Kaede. I think we really do have all of the pieces, Inu Yasha."

He closed his fist around the bundle, and the glow diminished. "Yeah, you an' me both." He paused. "But now what? We've got to make some decisions."

Kagome nodded. "Yeah. I don't suppose we could just leave it like it is... that's wishful thinking, isn't it?"

He rolled his eyes. "Well, yeah."

Kagome tapped her chin with one finger thoughtfully. "Oh, yes, that's right... you probably still want it for yourself..."

Inu Yasha stood. "Unless you want to live your life like Kikyo did, protecting the Jewel your whole life, we have to do something with it."

"You could become human."

"With all of the weaknesses of a human."

"Would you rather become a demon?" Kagome snapped, expecting the usual quick and condescending reply of 'of course!' but none came. Inu Yasha turned slightly away from her in silence, his hands tucked into his sleeves and his gaze unfocused.

Finally, quietly, "I thought I did."

Kagome couldn't help her small gasp, and his eyes flicked briefly to hers before moving away again.

"But after all that we've seen the Jewel fragments do to people, mortals and demons alike... how do I know I'll be different? Just about everyone we've ever seen with a shard of it was consumed by their desires, their obsessions..." Inu Yasha paused. "Plus, I don't want to lose the strong parts of what I am to become some monster whose overconfidence gets him killed."

Kagome looked slightly incredulous. "What?"

He faced her. "Well, face it, having the shards didn't protect all those demons we've killed over the years. They were overconfident. Granted, I was just better than most of them in the fights, half-demon or full, but still..."

Kagome shook her head. "You sounded so serious... but now you're blustering again. Or are you just..." She paused for a deep breath. "Are... are you sure this isn't about your feelings? For humans?"

"Demons don't have feelings for humans."

"That's what I mean. I think... you like having some of your feelings."

He turned away from her again. "So what? That's prob'ly just my human side trying to hold me back."

"What? Oh, come _on_, Inu Yasha!"

He glared pointedly at her. "You mean your feelings don't make you weak?"

She didn't back down. "Sometimes, yeah. But other times, they make me strong. But you know all this already! Why won't you admit it?"

"Grrr... You just don't understand!" This time he turned away completely.

"I understand that you don't want to ever be weak. I understand that you've needed to be strong all the time to survive."

He began to pace back and forth in the clearing, surefooted among the gnarled roots of the god-tree. "Yeah, but it's more than that... I can't protect you if I'm weak. I can't protect you if I'm human. If I don't use the Jewel to become human or to become a full demon, we're stuck with it. The constant temptation to use it one way or the other wouldn't be much fun, and there's no one else I'd trust with the Jewel but you... but I won't let what happened to Kikyo happen to you!"

"You're not making any sense! You think I'd... Naraku is dead! Besides, now that we know what really happened before, I wouldn't fall for that sort of trick even if he wasn't!"

Inu Yasha held out his palms to stop her, the small fabric bundle still in one hand. "No, that's not what I mean... she told me once that she couldn't be just a woman and still protect the Jewel. She had to be brave and fearless and flawless all the time, and it killed her inside." He paused, and then spoke gently, "Protecting it for the rest of your life, fending off demons all the time and losing all joy in living... I don't want you to have to go through that."

"So what's the other solution? You take the Jewel, don't use it, and go through that kind of loneliness yourself guarding the damned thing? That's no better!"

"Kagome..."

"No! I don't want that for you, either! There's got to be another way! Some way to destroy it, maybe? Without using it?"

"No mortal can destroy it... or Kikyo would have."

A familiar voice interrupted from the shadows at the edge of the clearing, "You're right."


	5. Rache - vengeance, revenge, retaliation.

"Kikyo?!"

Her arrow flew silently and surely, pinning Inu Yasha's sleeve just above and to the side of his shoulder to the trunk of the god-tree.

She stepped halfway from the shadows, letting them see the second arrow ready to fly. "Do not move, either one of you."

"But..."

"Don't do this..."

"Silence! I may be the first, but I will not be the last who senses the Jewel's completion. I felt its call, that it was once again united in one place, close to reclaiming its own full power. I know that my revenge must finally be at hand, or my destruction... possibly both. No mortal can destroy the Jewel, and no demon can resist using it. It's time this was ended."

"Kikyo..."

Kagome looked from one to the other, but didn't speak.

"Inu Yasha, you told me once that you would use the Jewel to become human, to be with me. Yet you have also said repeatedly that you would use it to become a full demon. I chose to take the Jewel with me in death, as the only way I could keep it from being used for evil. This girl seems to be willing to give her life to protecting it, but does not have the training or the skill to do so as I did. Therefore I will take it. Give me the Jewel."

"Kikyo... what would you do with it? You're not exactly mortal any more."

"I will have my revenge, and finally rest, free of this consuming hatred. Give me the Jewel! My second arrow will strike true, Inu Yasha!"

Kagome interrupted, "Hey, you're not exactly rational, you know. You're consumed by hate, by rage, and it doesn't even matter to you that Naraku is the one who tricked you both. Why should we trust you with the Jewel?"

"Because I give you no choice. Go back to your own world, girl, these matters are beyond you."

Kagome stood, and started to move toward Kikyo. "Now wait just a minute! I may not be as..."

"I warned you not to move!"

The arrow flew, and Kagome froze, turning to see. "No!"

The arrow had struck Inu Yasha in the chest and embedded itself solidly in the wood behind him. His pained cry split the air as he reached for it and the arrow glowed fiery violet. "Ugh... not again... Kikyo!"

"Why are you doing this? Naraku is dead! You have no reason to hate Inu Yasha any more!"

"My hatred goes beyond time, beyond hope, beyond reason. You forget... you took back from me most of my soul, girl. The shell that I am knows only the burn of vengeance and unkept promises of revenge. The very air I breathe is tainted with it! I can do no less!"

The half-demon strained against the arrow through his chest, but was unable to move. "Kikyo... don't do this!"

"You will sleep, Inu Yasha. Forever. I will have my revenge. You will know once again the pain of betrayal and not even this child will be able to free you."

Kagome clenched her fists at her sides. "I freed him from your spell once before, Kikyo, and I'll do it again!"

"No. Go ahead and try." Kikyo lowered her bow slightly. "You cannot free him. I wish to see him slipping into that haunted slumber knowing that no help will ever come."

Kagome quickly picked her way across the roots at the base of the god-tree to clamber up near him. Though she could see the arrow's purple glow when Inu Yasha tried to bring his hand to it, she had no hesitation and grasped the shaft firmly. She tugged but couldn't budge the arrow. Even bringing her other hand to bear, with most of the Shikon Jewel still in its vial in her fist, she couldn't so much as wiggle the arrow.

"Kagome... don't bother. I think I've figured it out. You could break the spell before... because you were her. I mean... all that her soul was... was within you. That's not true any more."

"Oh, no... Inu Yasha..." Kagome gave up on the arrow and whirled to face Kikyo. "How does this give you your revenge? I'm never going to give you the Jewel now! I know you! You may look like Kikyo, you may have some of her powers! But I know you're really only a husk, simply her hate-filled dying wish for misplaced vengeance, fermented in ashes and earth! You're a demon!"

Kikyo laughed, a hollow, broken sound. "Not quite. But I don't deny my nature. Give me the Jewel!" Her third arrow was ready to fly, and pointed at Kagome this time.

"All right! All right... I... I want to say goodbye. He's fading..." Kagome waited, but Kikyo did not loose the arrow, so she turned back to Inu Yasha, whose eyelids were already starting to droop.

"Don't do this, Kagome... the Jewel will... consume her... and become worse than before... you have to fight this..."

Kagome found a foothold in the bark of the god-tree, and climbed up a bit more so she was nearly even with Inu Yasha, this time staying clear of the arrows. She leaned in close to his shoulder, reaching to embrace him and tilting her head upwards to tuck her chin against the side of his neck. "I know," she whispered, slowly running her hand down his arm. "That's why... you have to choose now. I'm sorry." As she stood on tiptoe and her lips pressed softly to his cheek, her hand nudged the bundle in his palm open, and upended the vial into it. She whispered, "For luck..." as he clenched his fist tight against the burst of light and spiritual energy that came forth from the fragments. Their edges seemed to be trying to fit themselves together in the bundle in his palm.

Kikyo didn't overlook this. "Trickery! You think to impede my revenge? Die!" She let the arrow fly.

Kagome's reflexes were a fraction quicker than the pinned half-demon behind her, and she stepped in front of Inu Yasha and stretched out her right hand, her palm facing toward the approaching arrow. "_NO!_" A pale white light formed around the arrowhead's darker aura as it sped toward her hand, and the arrow slowed. Behind her, Inu Yasha's eyes snapped open and with his free hand he again reached for the arrow pinning him to the tree. Its violet-tinged aura burned just as bright as before and though his hand burned painfully for the effort, he couldn't force himself to touch it.

Kikyo gasped, peering intently at her opponent's stance and the competing auras surrounding her arrow, pushing its way slower and slower through the air. Kagome winced, but grit her teeth and poured her will into her hand, as though she was trying to push a boulder back with the very depths of her soul. Her breath caught in her throat, and her eyes stung.

The arrow dropped to the forest floor.

Kikyo smiled. "Well, perhaps there's some hope for you yet, girl. And now the choice is his. I should probably thank you."

Kagome's jaw dropped. "What?"

Kikyo lowered her bow. "Choose your fate, treacherous halfbreed. I will have my revenge, and perhaps my destruction as well. Either will bring peace at last."

Kagome turned back to Inu Yasha, worry creasing her forehead. "Inu Yasha?"

He grimaced, his eyes more clear than before as his gaze locked with Kikyo's. "Havin' the Jewel keeps your spell from making me sleep, obviously, but it's not enough to free me. You knew this might happen before you even got here." He paused. "And now I choose, right? Human or demon. Or handin' the Jewel over to one of you."

Kikyo's small smile didn't reach her cold eyes. "That's right. Though I warn you that the arrow's spell may be enough to kill a demon, and the wound itself may be enough to kill a human. Do you choose freely the fate I gave you all those years ago instead of those risks?"

"To sleep, an' give the Jewel over to you? Not damned likely. I'd sooner trust Kagome with it."

Kagome tried to interrupt, "Inu Yasha..."

"But I know what it did to you, Kikyo, and I wouldn't wish that on Kagome. I didn't want that for you back then, either, not that that matters to you now."

Kagome reached out a hand toward him, but he didn't look at her.

His expression hardened. "If I become a full-fledged demon, even with your spell, I'll probably kill you, Kikyo." She nodded once, her dark eyes expressionless. "If I become human, I won't be able to." She blinked a few times, but her expression barely changed, and she nodded again. He paused, and he spoke more softly. "Without the Jewel, what will you do, Kikyo?"

"If you die, I will surely find peace. And I've faced death once before, knowing that you would sleep forever. That will be enough."

"You will finally be appeased?"

Kagome's fist clutched at his clothing. "No, Inu Yasha..."

He shook his head gently. "Quiet, Kagome. Kikyo... you will finally be appeased?"

She paused, then nodded decisively. "I will rest."

He finally turned to Kagome, meeting her bright eyes with his own clear amber ones. "I trust you, Kagome, but I won't curse you with the Jewel. Do you... do you trust me?"

She searched his gaze, but found little clue to his thoughts. She wasn't sure what she hoped his choice would be. She slowly nodded. "I do, Inu Yasha."

He glanced back to Kikyo, who had taken a few more steps toward them, then back to Kagome. He took a deep breath, ignoring the pain in his chest, and blew it out in frustration. The Jewel felt so heavy in his palm.

Kagome took a step back hesitantly, then another. She'd shifted a bit so that she could see Kikyo out of the corner of her eye, and Inu Yasha was glad of that. She'd gotten better at handling herself, even against demons ten times her own fragile human strength. Human...

Was he ready to be human? Could he even survive the wound? Once his humanity negated Kikyo's spell, Kagome might be able to get him through the well to her own time, when healers could do wonders that Kikyo wouldn't have... couldn't have known about... and he would be human. That had all sorts of other problems, though it had seemed simpler years ago when Kikyo had first suggested it. Things just weren't that simple now, and they probably hadn't even been that simple then. He shook his head ruefully, thinking of his earlier self.

Was he ready to be a full demon? As if Kikyo's arrow wouldn't sear an unhealable hole in him right on the spot if he was... but he'd always been powerful, even only half, so maybe that same strength within him would be enough... no. The way this Kikyo's mind worked, he'd be dead, probably painfully, within a few moments, and in likely his final mindless act, so would she. And... somehow he... didn't want Kagome to have to see that. He considered just keeping the Jewel and staying where he was, but... other demons would come, and he couldn't defend himself or the Jewel pinned like a bug to the tree. He refused to think about giving the Jewel away. But to be human... he'd realized over the past few years that he liked some humans, even if he'd never really been able to admit it aloud, but was he really ready to be one? For the rest of his life? To be that vulnerable? To be that weak? To be unable to take care of himself against any of the various demons they'd managed to infuriate over the years? To be unable to take care of Kagome? The demons would be coming after her, too, and he had no guarantees that she'd be safe even in her own time... the real problem was the demons.

He clenched his fist tight around the Jewel. Demons and humans alike had made his life a hell when he was small... but as he'd grown up he'd realized that he could protect himself against pretty much anything humans could throw at him, especially if he was prepared. He preferred to live apart from them all, anyway. But demons had continued to be a problem. Either they came after him on principle, because of his tainted blood, or they went after the humans and then any human who crossed his path blamed him for the demon's violence.

He barely remembered his father, but he'd had so much power... and he'd chosen a human... out of love. And as his son... it made sense that he felt merciful and understanding of humans, but also that he'd want some fraction of that power. It was his birthright, after all, and nothing that humans would ever understand, no more than demons could understand his feelings for humankind.

He raised his hand, glaring at the Jewel as he opened his fist. The curved surface of the jewel reflected the forest around him in miniature, ringed by the sharp edges of his claws... and also reflected there, marked by the cracks still marring its perfect sphere where the final fragments had yet to merge completely, was his all-too-human face, his eyes the color of no human's gaze, his sharp fangs as he gritted his teeth, his silver-white hair.... That was who he was, that halfbreed mixture caught at the fractured edge of two worlds. A survivor.

He raised his palm to his mouth, closed his eyes against the pair of women watching him, and swallowed the Jewel whole.


	6. Entschluss - resolve, decision, determination, resolution.

Kagome raised one hand to her own mouth to cover her gasp, and Kikyo's eyes narrowed.

His heartbeats shifted the air, the sound reverberating in the marrow of his bones, in the tree behind him, in the soil... he felt the power of the Jewel, swirling darkness so brilliant it blanked out his vision. He felt it... possessed it... knew... that all he had to do was think of his desire, and the Jewel promised to make it so. Yet, some small part of his mind knew that even the simplest of wishes could be turned into something horrible by the Jewel...

He knew what he wanted, he had dreamed for certain things for so long that he could taste them... but he didn't have just one desire that could be so simply twisted, as so many others he'd seen trying to possess the Shikon shards. He wondered idly how wrenchingly the Jewel could ruin him, then hoped desperately not to harm those he cared about... those he... loved.

The Jewel's power shifted, expanded, built into a furious roar in his mind and his body. The rush of sound and scent and wishful thoughts and determination rattled his soul... but his soul did not yield. He clenched his fists, brought his arms in close about his body, curled his legs upward, desperate to hold on to his self against the onslaught. The different-textured pain of Kikyo's arrow grounded him, but it felt like the entire world was shattering into and out of him... and he wasn't ready to let go of either himself or the world.

Dammit! He was not about to become a demon without his own mind or soul, and did not want the weaknesses of humanity, either... _far too many demons plague this bloodied world already... No more!_

Kikyo gasped, and Kagome tore her eyes away from Inu Yasha's convulsively shuddering form to meet her startled gaze. They'd both heard the words, forced nearly unconsciously from the half-demon's grimace... Kikyo's expression was one of intense focus, but confusion, mirrored in Kagome's own face... they turned back to the god-tree as a fireball of bright light built from within Inu Yasha. He flung his head back, sucking in air like a drowning man, and opened his eyes, their amber color completely engulfed by pupils as black as hell itself. He flung his limbs out as the light engulfed him, spattering droplets of blood from his palms where his own claws had left gashes. The women threw their arms in front of their own eyes, the brightness near-blinding them anyway, and he screamed.

The clearing exploded in a deafening tumult of light, color, spiritual power, anguish and sheer force of will. His cry crashed through them like a thunderous wave of absolute stillness in the midst of utter chaos, and they fell backwards, clutching at the earth for stability as the entire world seemed to sputter and shift.

Then, silence...

A wheezing breath.

A soft moan from Kikyo.

A quiet huff from Kagome.

The soft rustle of a light afternoon breeze through leaves.

Kagome blinked, rubbing her eyes, and realized that the brightness was only normal sunlight. "Inu Yasha!"

His familiar form hung limply, still pinned to the god-tree by Kikyo's arrow, which glowed faintly violet against the red of his clothing. His head lolled forward, his hair tumbling forward over his face.

She hauled herself to her feet and wobbled unsteadily toward the base of the tree. He... he was still breathing... his head moved! "Inu Yasha?"

"Mmmgh..." He lifted his head slightly, and his lids lifted slowly. He looked down at her, slightly dazed. "Kagome?"

"Inu Yasha! Are you all right? You... you're..."

His brow creased into a small frown, and he lifted his hands before him. His eyes widened as he saw his familiar hands, claws bloodied from clenching his fists too tightly. His nostrils flared briefly. "I'm still... I'm..." He closed his eyes. He sniffed the air, and his ears twitched slightly. He paused, motionless, as though listening for something beyond hearing, then opened his eyes again. "I'm still me."

"What?!" Kikyo had risen to her feet, taking a few steps closer to them.

Inu Yasha's expression softened. "I'm still me. Just as I've always been. And the Jewel is gone. You were right all those years ago... my using it caused it to stop existing."

Her expression darkened. "Yet you remain. Not human." Her fists clenched at her sides.

"Kikyo..." Kagome tried to interrupt, but Inu Yasha held one hand out to her, asking her once again to allow him to deal with his past without interference. She pressed her lips together, obviously not happy but acquiescing.

Inu Yasha looked directly at Kikyo. "No, not human. And not demon, either. A halfbreed, as always. And therefore affected by this damned spell of yours, Kikyo, as surely as if I'd never had the Jewel."

Kikyo paused, considering.

"Please, Kikyo. I've given you what revenge I can. I've seen to the death of the one who killed you, the one who sowed mistrust between us and convinced us for years that our feelings were nothing... nothing but dishonesty and betrayal. I... I've... loved you... but because I didn't trust you enough, you _died_... there's nothing I can ever do to fix what's happened since then... I won't let you kill me... but I've spent fifty years here, and now I'm going to spend forever here... Please, let this be enough... please, find your rest... be appeased... please..." He reached out one bloodied hand toward her, trembling slightly.

She stepped forward, the tears she'd never shed welling up in her eyes as she focused on his hand. She lifted her own hand to meet his, and they softly enfolded and held, without either the hard edges of his claws or the blue-violet crackle of her spiritual energy.

"Inu Yasha..." Her eyes lifted to meet his, and her tears finally overflowed.

"Kikyo..."

She let the tears come, unashamed. "I... loved you... Inu Yasha..."

His voice quavered. "Please, Kikyo..."

Her cheeks wet, she turned slightly toward Kagome. "You know that most of what was once me has been within you since you called the soul back to yourself... all that is good is within you. I will not curse you with the echoes of my hatred or my anguish, child..." Kagome's mouth fell open, but Kikyo was already turning away from her. She let her bow drop to the ground, turning back to the half-demon she'd pinned to the tree. "I... will rest. Sleep well, Inu Yasha..." Kikyo lifted her other hand to unsling her quiver and then placed her palm against the god-tree's trunk. "Thank you... for... understanding my need for vengeance... and for... not destroying me... even this hollow shell... you... cared for... thank you..." Her hand slipped from his, and Kagome couldn't hold back her exclamation as Kikyo began to dissolve. A soft glow traveled from her torso across her arm, and it seemed that glowing dust motes gathered from all through her body to slip into the surface cracks of the tree's bark where her hand rested. Her clothing crumpled to the ground, covered in a fine dusting of clay, and she was gone.

"Ki...Kikyo..." Inu Yasha closed his eyes, his shoulders shuddering slightly.

Kagome tore her gaze away from the clothing and clambered up closer to Inu Yasha, grabbing two fistfuls of his clothing to steady herself.

He opened his eyes slowly, as sleepy tendrils of the spell were already twining around him, claiming him. "Kagome..."

Her eyes stung. "Inu Yasha!"

"Thank you, for trusting me... I think... I tried to use the Jewel so that no demons should give you any trouble... but in case it didn't work somehow, you should go back to your own time."

She shook her head, regret and denial warring for control of her expression. She reached once more for the arrow protruding from his chest, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't budge it. She only stopped when she felt his hand gently clutching her shoulder.

"Please, Kagome, I have to know that you're safe.... Go to your world and stopper the well so that no demon can follow you. Please." He fought to keep his eyelids open, searching her face for understanding, for acceptance.

Kagome's tears brimmed over. "But what about you?"

"Don't cry for me, Kagome. Sleepin' forever ain't so bad."

Her sob startled him, as she suddenly moved to cling to his shoulders and buried her face against the side of his chest unmarked by the arrow. "Oh, Inu Yasha..."

He brought one arm around to hold tightly against her back, drawing her toward him. "Kagome... I'm sorry... there was no other way... please, take Tetsusaiga with you... I don't want it fallin' into the wrong hands."

"I can't just leave you like this!"

"Shhh. I'll be fine." He teased one finger under her chin, and lifted her face to look at his. "Besides... if there's anyone who can figure out how to break Kikyo's spell... it'll be you."

"Oh..."

"But if it turns out you can't, that's all right, too... don't worry about me... take care of yourself..." His gaze lowered to her mouth for a moment, then lifted back to her eyes. She blinked, and he tilted his head forward those few inches... his lips were soft, pressing tentatively against hers, and then...

"I love you, Kagome." His eyes closed, and his head tilted slightly sideways, leaning against the trunk of the god-tree, and he slept.

"Inu Yasha..." Kagome clung to him for a moment, peering into his face, wishing in vain that she could wake him, then let her gaze travel over every detail of his expression as though to memorize it. She lifted one hand to touch his cheek tenderly, then slumped to the base of the god-tree. Unblinking, her eyes unfocused, she waited for the crash of emotions to overwhelm her. Their quest was finished, the Jewel destroyed, Kikyo at peace... and Inu Yasha forever asleep. She could even go home, that should mean something... but nothing came.

She blinked a few times, as the tracks of her tears dried forgotten on her cheeks.

This was all there was. All of their effort, all of their struggle, all of their pain... had been for this.

She had no idea how much time passed.

It was finished... well, nearly finished.

She shook herself, beginning to be chilled as the cooler breeze heralded evening's approach. Beside her lay Kikyo's bow and quiver, and she stretched out her fingers to gently stroke along the smooth wood of the bow. Picking them up, she stood, and lifted her eyes to the half-demon pinned to the tree. She didn't look to his face, instead unbinding Tetsusaiga's sheath from his waist and fastening it to her own. She gazed down at the rumple of Kikyo's clothing, closed her eyes for a moment, then turned her back and walked steadily across the clearing to where her own bow and quiver lay forgotten on the forest floor, next to her backpack and... partway there, she spotted it lying in the grass... the small vial, now empty.

She sighed, picked it up and dropped it into her pack.

She settled the pack into its familiar place across her back, and fastened both quivers over her shoulder. Taking the two bows in hand, she left the clearing. It was time to tell Kaede the fate of her sister's spirit, and to leave to her the task of laying the last remains to rest. She would leave Kikyo's bow and quiver with Kaede, and it was time to say goodbye to Shippo, who was probably worried about them... her. He was probably worried about her. Inu Yasha was beyond those sorts of cares...

One foot mis-stepped, but she caught her balance again and kept walking.

Once she said her goodbyes, it would be time to go home.

The sun slipped toward the horizon, staining the sky amber and red as she approached the village.


	7. Entzweibrechen - broken into two.

Kagome climbed steadily up the ladder her grandfather had placed in the well for her, the Tetsusaiga thumping lightly against one thigh and her bow slung across her backpack. She let her mind wander.

She carried spirit wards for the well, a gift from Kaede, whose powers far surpassed those of Kagome's grandfather, and a packet of leaves from Shippo which could be activated with her fingertip to become small statuettes. She had told Shippo that her family would probably sell replicas of his little statues as commemorative artifacts, and he had smiled and cried and hugged her tight, and then decided that with the loss of both she and Inu Yasha from his life, it was time for him to stand up and make his own way in the world. He had promised to look after Kaede, and the old woman had patted him on the shoulder affectionately and nodded.

Kaede herself had not spoken much, though she had been startled to hear that Kikyo had been tracking the Jewel. She confirmed Kagome's suspicion that Kikyo's spell was effectively unbreakable by any means in her power, which though disappointing was not unexpected. She had met Kagome's weary gaze with a sad, knowing one of her own, understanding that the young woman would have to find her own path, with or without the half-demon who had been her constant companion and partner for the past few years of their quest.

They still weren't really sure what Inu Yasha had done when he used the Jewel, but nothing immediately horrible had happened, and Kagome hadn't felt up to facing any more bad news, so they hadn't talked much about it. Now she was still curious, but since Kaede was the most likely person to figure it out and even she hadn't known where to begin...

The older woman had offered her some food, but Kagome hadn't been hungry. Instead, she had asked Kaede and Shippo to walk to the well with her, and with one last quiet farewell they had stood watching as she jumped into the well one last time. Kagome had looked back up only once, seeing the small patch of sky shrinking far above her as she fell.

That was over. She reached the top of the ladder and climbed out of the well.

Kagome sighed, placed the wards carefully around the well and on the wellhouse walls, and trudged up the steps. As she slid open the doors, she could hear all of the usual sounds of deepening twilight in Tokyo, unusual and harsh to her ears now. She glanced up, lifting her eyes above the rooftops of the shrine buildings to the sky where the moon's pale sliver rose. It looked broken, and there were fewer stars than she wanted.

She did not turn toward the god-tree, on the familiar hill across from the shrine.

She took a deep breath, and closed the wellhouse doors behind her. It was time to tell as abbreviated a version of the end of the Shikon Jewel as possible to her family... hopefully her mother would keep her grandfather from pressing for details... and then she could have a hot bath... and then she could fall into bed. A real bed... her own real bed. She would deal with her schoolwork in the morning... and every day from then on. She didn't have to go back into the past. There was no quest to return to, no duty left unfinished, no danger waiting to be faced, no one waiting there for her to return, no one who would come through the well for her. Until she found some way to break Kikyo's spell, if that was even possible, there was no one...

She blinked her dry eyes, tucked a stray bit of hair behind her ear, and walked back into modern life.

Not far away, but separated by a gulf of time, Kaede and Shippo had collected Kikyo's remains after Kagome left, and would lay them to rest again in the tomb shrine at dawn. The village around them slumbered, but now they sat quietly in the firelight of Kaede's hut, watching bright flames crackle and firewood fall to ash, sitting vigil until the sunrise.


End file.
